During Saddam`s trial journalists in the glassed-in gallery heard and saw only what they were permitted to. Judges in the US-built courtroom disposed of two buttons, one to cut the sound when Saddam spoke, and another to draw a curtain across the dock when he misbehaved.

Excerpts were released for broadcast with a 20- to 30- minute delay, ensuring that any revelations by Saddam could be censored, thus ensuring the role played by the US in the arms and chemical weapons dealings with Saddam`s government in the war with Iran would be unheard.
We will give him a fair trial and then we will execute him, the US wild west reenacted in Iraq.

Bush continues to take counsel on where to go next in the morass that Iraq has become, and again we will be hearing from those like Vice President Dick Cheney who said the invasion could be done with a minimum of troops and who are now calling for a surge in US troop numbers ahead of a handover to Iraqi authorities.

Wishful thinking by Bush and co won`t help this unsolvable problem, how to get out is their biggest problem.